Had Fun Out in the Hay Field

Friday, July 3, 1914: Had a jolly good time out in the hay field. You see if you have to work, you might just as well make a good time of it.

Photo source: Wikimedia Commons

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Grandma—

More details, please. It’s hot, hard work out in the hay field. It’s awesome that you had fun, but how did you make it fun? . . . Were you teasing and joking with other workers? . . . Who else was helping make hay? . . .

I haven’t thought about it in years, but now that you mention it, I can remember having fun playing in hay tunnels. I also remember sliding out of the mow on slides that we made out of bales. Those were the days. . .

We tied a hay rope up high in a tree. The other end was tied to the hitch on the tractor. We pulled it fairly tight. Then we used a hay pulley to zipline down from the tree to the ground. Kind of dangerous, but fun.

That’s my thought, too. I think that neighbors often helped each other back then with farm work–and a cute young guy helping harvest the hay could have made all the difference between an awful day and a wonderful day.